In the majority opinion for the Supreme Court’s District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) decision, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia quoted Sir William Blackstone to show that the Second Amendment guards “the natural right of resistance and self-preservation.”

Blackstone clarified: “The right of having and using arms for self-preservation and defense.”

In other words, the right to keep and bear arms is a right grounded in resisting tyranny, preserving our lives, and defending our property.

From the moment of its ratification in 1791, the Second Amendment was not about hunting or shooting sports. Instead, the Second Amendment revolves around a defensive use of firearms to protect life, liberty, and property.

And this is extremely apropos at a time when the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is not hiding its plans to seize privately deeded land on the Texas/Oklahoma border.